Teddytoarctic2024.blogspot.com

  For ornithologists and natural historians, Eldey Island is a place of mythology. It is the place, where, on July 3 rd , 1844, the last Great Auk was killed. Eldey is located about 10 miles from the southern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula in South Iceland, it is a part of a long chain of reefs and small islands that is referred to as reykjaneshryggur, or the spine of Reykjanes. Geologically, the spine of Reykjanes is due to the mid-Atlantic rift; this is where the North American and European tectonic plates meet, and are slowly moving apart from each other. It is a place of intense volcanic and seismic activity  (which, metaphorically and literally, is important to the tale of the Great Auk).   When I jumped aboard Teddy, I harbored a small hope that I would have the chance to see Eldey, and as we journeyed south, that hope grew to a reality. The Great Auk, or the original penguin, was a large flightless bird of the North Atlantic. It belonged to the Alcidae family, the ...

Some more pics from the Faeroes                            Leaving Sorvagur, Vagar Island, at 4 am. Mykines in the distance                                                              Tindholmur Island at center The crossing to Sandoy Island, 25 NM SE, was quite violent, with strong turbulence  from the fierce Faeroes currents. Wriley was seasick.                                                   Sandur Harbour, on Sandoy Island The church at Sandur. Archaeologists determined that this is the 6th church to be built on this exact spot over the last 1100 years, since the Norse came to the Faeroes. The previous churches varied slightly...

It begs a picture, which I need to find, but after weeks of sailing in cloudy foggy conditions , Iceland opened up it’s gorgeous views as we left Vestmannaeyjar for the Faroe Islands.  From Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland to Storvagar, Faroe Islands was about 3 days. The last day was mostly cloudy and rainy. We sailed through a gale (or at least it felt like a gale to this newbie) tacking multiple times to make it into the harbor. This was our first site of the Faroes. I’m not sure how, but it seems even more brutal than Iceland.  Storvagar is a quaint, small town. A great hardware store, a gas station w decent nachos (hunger is the best sauce) and a small cafe where we spent a fair amount of time. And lost of rain.  Old stairways in odd places always interest me. I’m sure it’s some psychological cliche about passages to other places and times. This stairway from the main road to the tidal flats felt like a piece of the past. Lots of work went into it a long time ago.  I als...

 The weather late spring and all summer in the region from Ireland to Iceland has seen continuous turbulence with strong winds. During my 2 months in Iceland we had mostly overcast, a good bit of it raining, and low temperatures, all most unusual. Ireland has seen lots of hard hitting lows, heavy rainfall, and lower temperatures - a summer that wasn't. The increased energy in the NE Atlantic, and my likely shyness after last fall's capsize, pushed me towards taking the Faeroes route rather than sailing directly from Iceland to west Ireland. Not a great route because from the Faeroes on to Clifden, headwinds are the norm for every step all the way. However, this route is a series of shorter hops, and we can pick our timing for favourable winds.  With a 2 day favourable wind I can do a great deal.  So we crossed from Vestmannaeyjar, S Iceland, to here, Sorvagar on the west end of Vagar Island. A pretty much uneventful crossing, 3 days, 380 NM.   Tomorrow we go to ...

 My inaugural blog post! Before I get into this post, I thought I would give a quick introduction of myself, and how I found myself aboard Teddy this summer. My name is Wriley Hodge, I recently graduated from my undergraduate where I studied seabird through the lenses of biology and visual arts. After I graduated, I received a fellowship from the Thomas J Watson Foundation to follow the migratory pathways of high latitude seabirds nesting in the Atlantic Ocean while trying to understand the interface of humans, seabirds, and islands. As part of this fellowship, I had traveled to Grímsey Island, a small island that crosses into the Arctic Circle off the north of Iceland, in order to look at the puffin harvesting that still continue there today, and this is where I met Nick and Frank, and hopped aboard Teddy! Sailing aboard Teddy has given me a new perspective on the birds that I am studying and following — whereas before, I had been looking at these birds from the perspective of hum...

Lonafjordur is the 3rd fjord in Jokulfjordur. We spent 2 nights here and rowed ashore. It was pretty incredible. Rowing ashore in a totally uninhabited place has a unique feel. You really are in the middle of nowhere and self dependent. And hiking up a mountain feels GREAT after being on a boat for a while. Nick foraged for greens, so we had some great pasta with sea spinach and muscles.

                                                                                                                         Wreck & rocks                        Foraging for scurvy grass aka Cochlearia spp. Excellent in salads                                                                                                                 Arctic poppy ...